454 casull accuracy in .460S@W rifle

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bogus mcall

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I'm getting ready to have my ruger no.1 rebarrelled to .460S@W. I live in indiana and we are allowed to use pistol cartridges in rifles. By having my no.1 rebarrelled to .460s@w i will be able to shoot .454 casull for deer hunting, and still be able to bump up too the .460S@W for out of state hunting. (Namely Bear) The reason for the .454 casull is Indiana reg's only allows a oal of 1.62" case length. The .460S@W exceeds that. My question is , will the accuracy of the .454 casull be affected much by shooting it in a longer chamber? Thanks
 
Thanks for the info. What kind of groups are you getting? Are you using handloads or factory ammo? Do you have any pet loads for either the .454 casull or the .460S&W?
 
bogus mcall said:
Thanks for the info. What kind of groups are you getting? Are you using handloads or factory ammo? Do you have any pet loads for either the .454 casull or the .460S&W?
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at best about 5" @ 100yds from a TC encore. Blame that on the garbage platform not the cartridge

Do you have any pet loads for either the .454 casull or the .460S&W?
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all the info you need is on hodgdon's webpage. I don't have many details as this was years ago but I do recall posting here about some of my results
 
Before you rebarrel your #1, Ruger now makes it in 460S&W
 
rebarrell

Ya I know, I've been trying to find one since Ruger anounced it. There is none out there yet. Also I kinda like the idea of a simi-custom rifle. Thanks for the info.
 
Hey All,

My New (to me) H&R Handi which started it's life as a 45LC was re-worked and now shoots .460 S&W, .454 Casull, .45 Schofields in addition to .45LC's is on it's way to me.

HR460-1.jpg

I too plan to use this Carbine (20" Barrel) rifle in the woods of North Georgia for Bear Hunting which I will back it up with my New (to me) Ruger Alaskan .454...

454Alaskan3.jpg

The Prior owner indicates cloverleafs at 100 Yards using Federal Fusion .460's...

I am toying with the idea to load and fire it with Double Tap .454 400 Grain - Wide Flat Nose Gas Check Hardcast ammo -

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_39&products_id=148

I am looking to see if anyone else has used this MONSTER round in either a Single Shot or a Alaskan...

Some bud's have warned against a blow out in the rifle and or a siezure in the Alaskan, so to chime in with you BOGUS MCCALL...

Anyone use a 400 Grainer in a .454 Casull Machine out there?
 
Nice rifle! let us know how it shoots, and what it likes. Just a word of warning though, i have talked to Hornady and they said their leverlution ammo is only rated too 2300fps. I guessing the factory ammo will be pushing 2600fps out or the longer barrel. About the only thing their ammo will be good for is plinking or varmit hunting. Ya i know , . .460S@W is a bit much for varmit. Im not sure how fast u can push a hard-cast bullet. The only bullet out there now (that i know of is Barnes) that will stand up to 2600fps. If there are others please someone let me know. My plans for now are to work up a good hunting load with the Barnes 200 or 275gr. but use Hornady bullets downloaded for practice and fun. Anyone have any other ideas?
 
My New (to me) H&R Handi which started it's life as a 45LC was re-worked and now shoots .460 S&W, .454 Casull, .45 Schofields in addition to .45LC's is on it's way to me.
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You sure that that is safe? Is that an SB1 frame or SB2 frame? Does NEF make a rifle for .454 and .460 (the 65K psi rounds)? If not, that might be for a reason. Be careful.

IMO, the .460 is completely redundant to the .45-70, only with inferior pistol bullets.... so it's everything the .45-70 is, but less. Much less. Yes, the .460 is a question that was already answered a long, LONG time ago.

Bogus McCall, what's your Ruger #1 chambering right now? I wouldn't do that - I wouldn't want any rings building up in the chamber on a 65K round - you shoot a bunch of .454s and then go to .460 without a thorough cleaning and you might start setting off metal detectors with your head.

Leave it .454 casull, if that's what it is now, and buy a dadgummed .270 or .30-06 for other states! Why hamstring yourself with .460 in states where "anything goes", when buying Marlin XL7 or Stephens 200 in .270 will cost you less than the ream job, and you won't have to worry about "was it reamed correctly", as well as not worrying about chamber ringing & resulting explosions in your face?
 
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Dr Tadd, thanks for your reply. My no.1 is a 45/70 right now and it is getting a compleatly new barrel chambered for .460S@W As for why the .460? all i can say is why not? I have already bought the dies, shell plate (Hornady) bullets, starline brass and several pounds of powder. As for the rings i understand your reasoning on that but for the most part i will be shooting .460S@W in it, the .454 casull is to make Mr Conservation Officer happy if i get checked while hunting. And do you really think I'm hamstringing myself with the .460S@W for Bear? There is not alot of difference between it and the grand old 45/70 that so many Bear hunters use. Thanks for your thoughts.
 
And do you really think I'm hamstringing myself with the .460S@W for Bear?
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Don't listen to the naysayers with no experience with a 460 RIFLE

Trust me you're not giving up anything compared to the 45-70 but you are gaining a legal cambering for your state and the ability to shoot MUCH MUCH cheaper pinking projectiles. And if for whatever reason you need a tougher bullet there's always hardcast gas checked lead.....you know those bullets the 45/70 guys are always raving about.

Encore katadhin 20" barrel 460 S&W.


200grn FACTORY loads

1. 2863 fps
2. 2807
3. 2847
4. 2849
5. 2830

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=289187&highlight=S&W

300grn Hornady XTP mag, handloads
one grain up from the start load

1. 2057
2. 2091
3. 2088
4. 2042
5. 2058

I would dearly love to have another 460 S&W rifle that wasn't a POS %&*))% break action single shot
 
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Thanks for the support Krochus. You know if i only had the guns i really need they would be limited to .22lr rifle and a 12ga. These two 'could' handle everything that i need to do. But i believe most of us have guns of different caliber, styles, lengths and even weights. We even have a reason for them, but do we really need ALL of them? probably not.
AS you pointed out, i will have alegal rifle to hunt indiana deer with and the extra horsepower for bear.
The factory numbers you cite, can u rember what they were? At 2800+ that is smokin. But they probably would'nt do for anything other than fun or varmits. I'm sure it just a matter of time before Hornady and the others come out with a bullet that will stand up to .460S@W max velocities. Hornady's .338 Marlin shows a velocity of 2560. It must have a thicker jacket than the other FTX bullets. Anyway it will all work out and i cant wait to get my no.1 back in .460S@W.
 
my browning high wall 45-70 will easily send a 300gr bullet at 2000 fps,in fact it will send it at over 2300fps at a lot less pressure. but i do understand about haveing to use a pistol lenth case. i have a browning high wall 454 casell, but i have not fired it yet. eastbank.
 
I wish i could use my 45/70 in indiana. But the .460 is my nexy best option. And those high wall's are neat guns. When u get around to shooting your casull keep me updated. Do you hand load?
 
Personally I wouldn't bother with it... maybe it's just me but the .454 is already "enough gun" and even more so out of a rifle. I would trust the 300gr XTP-Mag (1600fps out of a 9.5" SRH) to do about anything that needs done. That bullet goes through deer like warm butter. You'll get about 1800fps out of a Ruger #1 (SWAG). If you think you need another couple hundred fps, then by all means step up to the .460S&W. I don't think your accuracy will suffer enough to matter at the typical deer distances in Indiana.

p.s. The .45 Colt will get the job done on deer.

p.p.s. There is a guy in Indiana who trims the .45-70 (I think he calls it s .45-50) to Indiana legal length and uses a Marlin lever gun, so if you like the .45-70, just go for it and trim to legal length for deer. If I get time I'll look for his loads, but you can probably find it with google.
 
Thanks, that 45/50 sounds interesting, I'll check it out. As far as the rebarrel to .460s@w, I'm still going to do it . I know there is a lot of different opions out there, but it's what I want. That's the beauty of wildcats and custom gunsmiths.I doubt I will run into many people w/ a heavy barrel, no iron sighted Ruger no.1 chamberd in .460s@w.
 
The origanal question was "how much if any accuracy would I lose by shooting a 454 casull in a rifle chambered in 460s@w" I've had a couple of direct answers and they both agree "not much". But the other comments have gotten me thinking. This maybe the perfect rifle after all. First, loaded with 45lc I would be able to hunt small game. Next, by loading the 200gr FTX up to 2200-2300fps in 454 casull this should make a fine 200yrd deer gun. Next, by loading a Barnes 200gr at 2800fps (35 Whelen equlivent)in 460s@w that would make a fine big game gun. And finally, loading a 400gr hard cast in 460s@w to 1800-2000fps would make a fine bear gun. I know the points of impact would likely be differant, but it seems like I remember someone makes a scope that u can have 4 different zero's. Any comments?
 
I remember someone makes a scope that u can have 4 different zero's. Any comments?
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Ruger rings are some of the best in terms of returning to ZERO, in fact all mine will return to EXACT ZERO if removed.

If it were me I'd try having 3 different optics and see if that's plausible. Just buy good optics because 460 will kick like you can't imagine. I had hot 300grn loads shear off a cheap scope ring and ruin a scope
 
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